Fires and Tourniquets
by HelainaBlake
Summary: Next in the rXh Series! A series of arsons affect Aaron Hotchner in the wors possible way, and not even our Reid can figure out what to do...


**Hey y'all! As you can see, I'm UNRELENTLESS when it comes to uploading new stories! I love writing them, thinking out a plot, a sub-plot; this is what makes me happy! But what makes me happier is when YOU guys subscribe and review :D happy times! Now... I'm planning something big, a complete story based on the hXr series, and I'm telling you now... It's not gunna be pretty X( NEW PEOPLE TO THIS STORY!: This Isn't the first in the series! PLEASE CLICK ON MY PROFILE AND START AT THE BEGINING!**

**Ok, so I didn't comment on some of my past reviews, so i'm gunna get round to that now! Here's just a few xxx:**

**Danya-Kon: Wow! Thank you for the LUVLIE review, it really put a smile on my face :) And i have to admit I've always prefered shower scenes as well. And oooo Poor Hailey! I've already decided what's gunna happen to the poor girl, so you'll just have to find out XD Keep updated xx Till next time!**

**CMAli: :D Thanks for the link, I'll enjoy reading them all! And thank you for the most recent review; made my day :))**

**Danae72: **SIGH** Thank you..! :)**

**Ok people! Back to the story...**

**Helaina OUT!**

* * *

_We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey. ~Kenji Miyazawa_

The team was gathered around the table discussing the recent case thay had just received. It was of a series house fires, that started while the entire family was asleep; at first it would have just been labled as arson, but because of the continuation of the fires it was now labed a serial killer using fire as his choice of weapon.

"Statistically, 94% of all serial arsonists are male, 75% are white and few, if any, are ever caught." Reid looked around the table and saw Emily looking at him curiously.

"Few?" She said. "You don't have a percentage?"

Reid fidgeted in his seat. "16%. Those 16% set 30 plus fires before they're ever apprehended. I'm trying to be more conversational."

Emily smiled and shook her head. "Oh. It's not working." She gave him a sweet look before they returned to the briefing.

Gideon was walking around the room, as if the movement help his brain to function. "For them, fire's just a substitute for sexual release."

"Oh, great. So if these guys don't get laid, they start fires?" Garcia snorted.

"Or in this case, burn entire families to death."

That shut her up. Prentiss could see her awkwardness, and could feel the tension in the room rising, and turned to Reid to ligten the mood. "No statistic?"

"No, they don't have statistics on this guy; one of a kind." Gideon answered.

"Thank God..." Garcia mumbled.

"When do we leave?"Morgan said once it was over.

"Now. Everyone get your things and be ready in fifteen minutes." Hotchner regarded his team, thinking how they didn't get the gravity of this case. He was pretty sure they would soon... "Reid, can I speak to you before you go?"  
Hotchner's voice was harsh, and this normally meant that Reid was about to get a sever talking to about something. Reid knew that this wasn't the case but he turned to Morgan anyway, forcing a 'help me!' expression on, and looked slightly defeated when Morgan just shrugged and left the room and closed the door behind him. Reid relaxed slightly when they were alone.

"So..." Spencer said. "You ok?"

"I think the question is are YOU ok?" Spencer just shrugged and told him he was fine. 'A lack of coffee and sleep' he said.

"Spencer, I know we haven't spent the last couple of nights together..."

"Oh, no!" Spencer gasped. "Oh Hotch, you don't have to explain anything to me! You need to spend time with your family; with your wife and son. I completely understand!"

"I know that." He interupted. "I'm just worried if you're using again."

The suddeness of the harsh question was enough to make Reid flinch, his eyes zone out, and his body to lock down. He was getting defensive; and a defensive Spencer is not something you can reason with. It's as impossible as keeping coffee away from... well... Spencer!

"I'm not." He said coldly. "The... withdrawls are just taking their toll, you know. I'll be fine soon enough."

"I'm sure you will." Hotch said warmly, walking over to the boy genius and boldly kissing him on the forehead. "I'm just worried about you. I always will be, even when there's nothing for me to worry about."

Spencer frowned in Aaron's arms. "Why?" He asked.

"Because I love you."

Reid smiled up at him. "I love you too." He leant forwards and kissed Aaron's cheek. "Now let's go, before one o them come in here after us!"

They moved apart, grabbed their files and bags, and walked into the bullpen. Reid had a sulky teenager look about him, and Hotch didn't even need to try and look stern; it just came naturaly. Altogether, they put on a pretty good show! None of the other profilers suspected a thing.

But Garcia wasn't a profiler. She HATED profilers. And her keyboard happy fingers couldn't resist the temptation of knowing when her juniour G-Man was being scolded for, when she hacked into the rooms webcam...

* * *

The hospital hallway was close to silent, none of the other doctors could beleive annother human being could inflict this much damage on a family... It sometimes made them wonder how these FBI agents could deal with situations like this every single day. While the FBI agents were wondering exactly the same thing about the doctors.

"I'm giving her as much painkiller as I can." The doctor looked shaken, but was good at controlling her emotions. It came with the job. "She asked about her husband and son. She passed out again before I had to answer."

Prentiss was shocked. "She doesn't know?"

The woman shook her head. "Whatever you tell her, she won't live long enough to know different." Somebody called out her name from down the hallway. "I'll be right back." She dismissed herself; Hotchner and Prentiss nodded.

"Did she just tell us to lie to a material witness?" Emily asked.

"No." Hotch said. "She told us that we could."

They entered the room, horrified at how much pain Mrs. Cutler must be in. They identified themselves as FBI and begun asking questions. Emily almost told her about her family twice, but Hotch was quick to step in, claiming that her husband and son were outside, waiting for her. Well... the waiting part is true at least. "Would you like me to stay with you?" Aaron asked when Emily had left the room. "Until you're ready?"

Mrs. Cutler smiled weakly. "Yes, thank you. I'd like that."

It didn't take long for the life to fade from her eyes, and her spirit to return to her family.

Aaron sighed sadly and left the room.

* * *

The rest of the team were still at the station, therowing ideas around about how the two families could be connected. Reid had the idea that it was probably the fathers, because they were the most alike, but he just couldn't find anything... Until Garcia called.

"Brace yourselves. I'm going to teach you the meaning of L.U.S.T..."

Gideon looked mildly amused. "Did she say lust?"

Garcia nodded, then mentaly noted that no one could see her. "I cross-referenced every known fact on the victims and I just found a website that links both Dennis Cutler and Mathew Jarvis' companies on a list of businesses guilty of L.U.S.T."

They were still as confused as before. "I'm missing something..."

"Leaking Underground Storage Tanks."

Everyone in the room rolled their eyes in unison.

"Guys." Hotch said, putting his head around the door. "Meeting room now. Garcia, transsfer your call into there."

When they were all seated and ready to continue they gave the officers the profile of their Unsub. Male, late thirties early fourties, lives with a female reletive of whom he relies on. Maniplative, and bad at keeping anything steady. If he was married, he's now divorced. If he had a job, it won't last.

"But why fire?" One of the younger officers asked.

"He's like a drug addict," Spencer explained, moving around uncomfortably in his seat. "only fire's his drug. Each time an addict needs a fix, they need more of the drug to get off, so his crimes will most likely get much worse. It'd be almost impossible for him to quit without help."

Hotch and Gideon looked at eachother for a few moments, before Hotch quickly dismissed them all and watched nervously as Morgan pulled Spencer aside. "What was that about?" He asked softly.

Spencer shook his head and shrugged calmly. "I was just giving a profile, Morgan. Just like the rest of the team was."

"Yeah man, I get that. But you seemed... well, you looked awkward saying those things. What's eating at you?"

"Nothing." Spencer said just a little to harshly. "Just drop it, Morgan." He started to leave the room, but was stopped by Morgan grabbing his upper arm.

"Look, I get that this is a hard case; but you need to start _trusting _us, man. We're all here for you."

Reid didn't move for a moment, but then smiled at his friend. "Thanks Morgan."

Morgan patted his shoulder and watched the junior G-Man leave the room. Something wasn't right with that kid, and he sure as hell wasn't going to stop until he figured it out...

* * *

Hotchner and Prientess had kept an eye on Evan Abby, leader of the EDF and a perfect fit for their Unsub. They had questioned him earlier that day in front of the murdered famlies house, making sure that he got a good view of the body bags as he was talking to them. Luitenant Vega was slightly worried about that. "Remind me never to play poker with you guys..." He had said.

"What do you suppose is going on in there?" Hotchner asked from the car, looking in at the house.

Prentiss raised her binoculars and nodded. "All those people, no booze or music. That's either a very lame going away party, or an EDF meeting."

Evan Abby later came out of the house and approached the two FBI agents, informing them that he had started the EDF for his son and not for somebody elses son to be killed; so he had disbanded the EDF. There was annother arson that night, not two blocks away...

* * *

The team had identified the Unsub as the misinformed EDF member, Vincent Stiles, but had got nothing but dead ends when it came to tracking him down. Hotchner had gone to search for the EDF leader, who thay realised had cancer, to try and figure out where he may have gone. Abby left before Hotchner could question him further...

"I talked to Abby..."

Emily looked up from her paperwork. "How'd it go?"

Hotchner was slightly flustered, which made Emily uneasy. "He was watching his kid play baseball... His son didn't even notice that he was there; and now he's gone."

That snapped Emily back. "The son?"

"No, Abby. He's gone to the Unsub.

Emily frowned. "How can you be sure?"

"Because that's what I would do."

Reid watched from a distance with curiosity, worried fro his lover's mind in this case. It was really getting to him...

"Where'd he go?" Emily asked.

Hotchner shook his head. "I don't know, but I'm going to find out..."

Both Spencer and Emily watched Hotchner enter the office, their anxiety growing when Gideon followed him just a few seconds later. Emily didn't want to be in earshot of this conversation, and swiflt left; giving Reid the oppertunity to take her seat and listen into the rest of what they had to say.

"I catch killers, I save lives, I'm a hero until my key hits my front door and then I'm just the father and the husband who is never there." That was Aaron... Reid felt slightly queazy.

"Yeah, I got that one."

"Here's the thing," Hotch said. "When I'm home, I'm in this silent panic because I know that I have to be as good as I can as fast as I can. Because any minute the phone is going to ring and my time is up. And that panic is exactly what I saw in Abby."

Reid drifted into his mind for a moment, not sure if he wanted to her the rest of what he had to say...

"So what do you do?" Gideon's voice forced him into reality.

Hotch didn't even hesitate. "I _burn _him."

* * *

Hotchner had figured out that they were meeting at a werehouse by the marina, and refused to beleive what was staring him in the face. Gideon realised this, and didn't want to take the risk of Aaron hurting himself carelessly.

"Morgan, don't put me on speaker, just listen."

Morgan didn't like the sound of that, but he listened anyway; occasionally glancing at his boss to see if he had any idea what they were talking about.

Not a few minuets later there was an explosion and Aaron's car stopped  
"What're you doing?" He asked Morgan. Morgan just shook his head, and Hotch stormed out of the car and towards the explosion. He and Gideon had to hold him back.

"There's nothing we can do!" Gideon said.  
"So we're just meant to do NOTHING?" Hotch yelled, hope slowly slipping from his eyes. "He wanted his death to mean something..."

* * *

"Aaron..." Reid sat up from the bed and looked down at his still lover. "Aaron, what wrong..? Please talk to me."

"There's nothing to say." Hotch said too quickly, sitting up next to him and shoving the doctor roughly onto the bed. "Now _come here!_"

Reid whimper at Hotch's sudden change in personality, but moaned at the invaion of Hotch's tongue slipping into his mouth. "Ah... Mmmm..."

Aaron wasn't wasting any time. He ripped Reid's shirt off, throwing it to this side, then ripped Rei's boxers. Spencer was about to complain but was silenced by forcefull lips on his own.

Aaron didn't care about making this last, he didn't care about anything. He just needed rough primal sex to feel _something_.

"A-Aaron..?" Reid said quietly. "What're you- AGH!"

The penetration was forcefull, and came without warning; Hotch didn't bother on lubrication or a steady pace. He just pounded Reid into the bed without abandon. Spencer's loud cries didn't stop him. if anything it _encouraged _him, picking up the pace so Reid was delerious from the pleasure and pain.

"Aaroon..." Reid moaned. "I'm SO close, Aaron... Harder... Please..."

It didn't take much more to send the young doctor over the edge, and while he ode out on his intense orgasm Hotch felt his own rip out. He filled Reid uncontrolable before rolling off and cleaning himself up with a spare towel.

"What are you doing..?" Reid whispered.

"I'm going home to Hailey." He said, quickly dressing himself. "I'll see you at work tomorrow Reid."

Spencer sighed at he heard his front door slam shut.

_He had just called him 'Reid'..._

He rolled out his bed and stumbled around his room, not even bothering to switch on the light. He was searching for something... something he NEEDED desperately. He smiled when he found the wooden box he had securely hidden, and them fumbled around for something that didn't fit in the box; but belonged in there, sure enough...

A tourniquet...

* * *

**All is not good for our lovers... And things are getting even worse for Reid... D:**

**As I've said, I'm working on a bigger project, based around the rXh series; tell me what you think, and I will post a teaser somewhere on my page soon enough. R&R guys xx**


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